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VRmagic DC: Multisensor Camera with Linux

29 Jul 2011

VRmagic offers a freely programmable Ethernet camera with up to four external
sensors, which is suitable in particular for integration into OEM products.

The intelligent freely programmable multisensor cameras of the DC series from
VRmagic equipped with their own Linux operating system can also perform
complex image processing tasks completely autonomously. Up to four external
sensors are each connected to the central processing unit via a Flex-Foil
cable of up to 50 cm in length. They enable pixel-synchronous image
acquisition from several positions, such as those required for 3D
reconstructions of moving objects.

CMOS sensors with Global Shutter

The CMOS sensors with global shutter are available in monochrome and colour
and with resolutions from VGA to megapixels. Coordination of the image data
and management of the buffer take place on an FPGA module with 256 MB RAM. For
VISION 2011, the intelligent multisensor camera will also be available with
the Sony ICX445 CCD sensor.

Processors and Interfaces

The DaVinci processor from Texas instruments incorporated in the camera is a
300 MHz ARM9 processor, in which Debian Linux is running as autonomous
operating system, while the 600 MHz DSP with 4800 MIPs is available completely
for image processing tasks. A stable and quick file system (UBIFS) provides
high data integrity. The supported interfaces include Ethernet, USB 2.0 Host,
RS232 and General Purpose I/O. Also available are an analogue video output and
optionally CAN and profibus.

Debian Linux

The standard operating system Debian Linux offers experienced developers an
open platform, where they can program their own applications in C/C++ or any
common script language. Algorithms can be developed using standard
environments such as Visual Studio or Code Composer Studio and transferred to
the camera via Cross-Compilers. Host system and camera are equipped with the
same API for controlling the camera function and providing unrestricted access
to the sensor raw data.

The cameras of the DC series are aimed at integration into OEM projects that
produce series quantities.